In this lively survey of women as history-makers, Sue Armitage explores the story of women's lives from the earliest inhabitants to yesterday's newest migrants, told within the larger framework of the changing Pacific Northwest -- Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and British Columbia. Showcasing both the variety and commonality of women's activities and values, Armitage provides an ongoing context for women's lives and shows how their activism on behalf of families and communities has made our regional history. Shaping the Public Good's narrative encompasses women of all races and ethnicities -- the famous, the forgotten, and the women in between -- and provides an accessible introduction for general readers and scholars alike.

Sue Armitage is Emerita Professor of History and Women’s Studies at Washington State University in Pullman, where she taught and wrote about women in the U.S. West for thirty years. She is coeditor of three collections of work by and about western women, most recently, Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Gender in the Women’s West. She lives in Portland, Oregon.